As is known, the components essential to sustaining an aircraft, such as engine components, must be protected from damage caused by collision with, and possible ingestion of, flying blunt objects, such as birds.
More specifically, certification regulations governing certain categories of aircraft require that, in the event of damage to an engine component caused by collision with a bird, the aircraft be capable of maintaining flight long enough to reach a landing site.
Accordingly, aircraft are certification tested to ensure the engine components maintain a given degree of efficiency in the event of collision with a bird.
To prevent damage to engine components and comply with certification test requirements, engine component protection devices have been proposed, which substantially comprise an ogival shield surrounding the engine component and fitted to a fixed supporting member of the engine component.
The shield must be particularly thick, and hence heavy, to withstand collision with a bird and so at least partly prevent damage to the engine component.
Such shields are therefore unsatisfactory, by greatly increasing the overall weight of the aircraft and so impairing performance and increasing consumption.
A need is felt to reduce the weight of such shields, while at the same time ensuring sufficient protection, as demonstrated by engine component certification tests, to sustain flight of the aircraft for a predetermined length of time in the event of collision with a bird, and so comply with certification regulations.